Taysiders aged between 65 and 79 and the “clinically extremely vulnerable” will soon be invited for Covid-19 vaccinations, health chiefs say.
NHS Tayside is moving into the next phase of its programme after vaccinating more than 45,000 people in the first priority groups.
The next age group and those shielding will begin to be invited for vaccination in stages during February.
In Tayside this will take place at GP practices or community clinics. Housebound patients will continue to be offered vaccination in their own home.
GP practices are currently contacting eligible patients to book appointments.
Locals will be contacted directly when it is time and the health board say there is no need to reach out.
Health and social care staff who come under these priority groups can also get their vaccination at a staff clinic if this is more convenient for them.
Associate director of Public Health, Dr Daniel Chandler, said: “Our vaccination teams have worked tirelessly to ensure that 45,000 of Tayside’s most vulnerable residents and frontline health and social care workers have received a vaccination so far.
“All in these first priority groups will have been offered vaccination by next week which is a huge achievement and means that we are now able to move into the next phase of the programme, which is the over 65s and those who were asked to shield.
“Uptake has been extremely high and we hope to see this continue as we move through the programme.”
Most frontline staff and oldest in country now vaccinated
A total of 20,750 frontline health and social care staff, 7,000 care home staff and residents and 17,500 people aged over 80 have now received a vaccination.
This makes up more than 11% of all vaccinations delivered in Scotland and puts NHS Tayside second of all mainland boards in the country in terms of population vaccinated.
A further 2,000 health and social care staff are booked in over the coming days and all remaining people in the care home and over-80 age group will have been offered vaccination by next week as planned.
The health board says this is a “significant step” in the response to the pandemic but warned the virus is “still circulating widely” in all communities across Tayside.
Dr Chandler added: “We know that many more people are eager to get vaccinated and we want to assure everyone that they will be offered the vaccination but, understandably, we need to ensure those who are most vulnerable are vaccinated as soon as possible.
“This means that our immediate focus is on frontline staff and older and at-risk members of our communities.
“We would like to thank everyone for their patience as we work our way through the priority groups and ask that people do not contact their GP practice with enquiries about when they will receive the vaccine as practices are currently very busy making arrangements and booking appointments.
“Remember it takes 2-3 weeks for the vaccine to provide protection and it is not known whether it stops you spreading the virus to others so we all need to continue to stick to the rules and help stop the spread in our communities.”
Research shows it takes two to three weeks for the vaccine to give protection and it’s not yet known whether having the vaccine stops people passing on the virus.
